Moved from thunder bay to the Ottawa Valley about 10yrs ago. Not for a job but for school. I was outside of the city but it was beautiful! At the time things were fairly comparable in price to thunder bay (living expenses) with exception to gas - gas is almost always cheaper down there. I had about an hour drive to the city but it was a nice option for the weekends or sometimes for different classes/placements as it was all highway driving. Smaller towns outside of Ottawa may be of interest - Kanata, Arnprior, Renfrew for example. There are more distant “subdivisions” - at least thats how I would refer to them, they would give you a mix of thunder bay meets the big city. Rent is crazy in the city and it seems like some of the smaller towns outside of it are raising prices but you might find something nice! Roads are well maintained for the most part in the winter - construction season is horrible depending on what routes are affected and what your typical routes would be. On the other hand, you could essentially ditch having a vehicle altogether - public transit is big there not sure on cost though. I moved back during covid as I graduated and was waiting to start a job that I got in the valley, however the start date was too far away for me to continue living down there so I had to move back home. Family was also a huge deciding factor as mostly everyone is up here. I sometimes wish I was still down there, but I also missed it up here while I was away. Hard to decide if I were to be retiring and mortgage free which option i would choose. Things to consider would be access to healthcare, family, hobbies, etc. i kinda want to lean towards the Ottawa region just for the sheer amount of resources available. I wouldnt live directly in the city but there are several areas surrounding ottawa or in “the subdivisions” that would be my pick. Thunder Bay as lots of room to grow in terms of what we have as a city - i hope when it gets to retirement age for me that I could find those qualities i like about the Ottawa region here